The present invention is directed towards a storage carriage. More particularly, the present invention is a carriage for storage and transportation of a longitudinal component.
It is known in manufacturing that components may be stored before the component""s incorporation into a finished product. In tire manufacturing, there is a necessity to store longitudinal components at various stages of the manufacturing process.
Typically, such components are stored in an A-frame carriage with a central roll. Such carriages permit a large capacity storage of a longitudinal component, but have drawbacks. The carriages have to be changed out when the carriage is full. During storage, the portion of the component closest to the central roll is subject to the pressure exerted by the remainder of the component wound onto the roll; this can create uneven deformation of the component. Because the component is wound onto a roll, wherein the diameter of the roll increases as more of the component is placed on the carriage, the rotation speed of the carriage must be monitored to ensure correct tension on the stored component, and for any liner also being applied, the tension of the liner must also be monitored.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,205 discloses an apparatus for festooning a traveling length of web-like material. The apparatus is a moveable carriage comprising a plurality of support rods extending between the longitudinal sides of the carriage. The material is draped over the rods. As the rods travel the length of the carriage, the material is carried through the carriage. The material hangs freely down from the rods. While this is an acceptable storage method for textile fabrics, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,205, such a carriage would not be suitable for elastomeric, or elastomeric coated, sheets as the unsupported weight of the elastomer, as it hung in such a storage apparatus, would distort and pull the sheet. Such an occurrence would be detrimental to producing a quality product from the elastomeric sheet; any distortion effect being made worse if the elastomeric sheet is reinforced by any type of cording or fiber reinforcement.
The present invention is directed towards a storage carriage for longitudinal components. The storage carriage is comprised of a pair of continuous belts. The belts are arranged to form a nested zigzag pattern. As the material is feed through the nested zigzag pattern, substantially the entire length of the component within the storage carriage is subjected to the same tension and compression.
The longitudinal component is fed into the carriage at one corner of the carriage and is removed from the opposing corner of the carriage. The component travels through the carriage in a xe2x80x9cfirst-in/first-outxe2x80x9d system; making removal of the component from the carriage easier than in conventional storage methods.
In one aspect of the invention, the carriage has a plurality of connected drive rolls that drive the pair of continuous belts.
In another aspect of the invention, the carriage is comprised of alternating series of drive rolls and guide rolls.